Noha’s Prague Journal 6: Misguided by Guide Books
I would like to apologize in advance for the ‘over the top quality’ of this post. I was in a good mood when I wrote it.
It was Peter who bought Fodor’s on one of our trips to MontReal. I thought it was very dorky to use travel books and made fun of him. However, I was the one who read it and not him! It made some good recommendation for sightseeing, and lead us to two amazing restaurants in Montreal. Since then, I was hooked. Even though we lived in New York, I still used guidebooks for restaurant recommendations and we found that Fodor’s choices almost consistently lead us to great finds (much more so than Zagat or Time Out). I blame Fodor’s for turning us into foodies. I miss the simpler times when I thought Chilli’s was good.
On our third Saturday, since I loved the neighborhood Vinohrady , I read in Fodor’s about a restaurant called Babylon where it is especially recommended to go on weekend brunches for people watching. Peter was reluctant to go since he was hungry and Vinohrady is a long walk away, but I insisted. We walked for around one and half hours (Vinohrady is very hilly) and got to the restaurant area. It was deserted as if we were the last people on earth (so much for people watching). Finally we arrived to the address after getting lost and Instead of ‘Babylon’, we found an indian restaurant instead (Babylon was closed since 2010!).
Since we are wise, we had a backup plan. Another restaurant recommended in Vinohrady is Fluidum. We had to backtrack, take the subway (Peter was too hungry to walk). Due to hunger and other reasons, Peter forgot to take my subway ticket from the ticket machine and after we climbed stairs and crossed the platform, we realized it. One hour later, we were walking close to the address, and we saw a sign saying: Fluidum, 40 meters this direction:
The end of our quest is near!
We walked 40 meters, 60 meter, 100 meters and no Fluidum. As it turns out, Fluidum is gone!
You remove the restaurant but not the sign!
Instead, we went to ‘Mozaika’, a restaurant where we have been before and were surprised to find it was open. After three hours, we were rewarded with this great burger once again.
The maker of this burger is a culinary genius but a Physics dummy. The delicious onion bun being crispy and the amazing slippery homemade mayonnaise on lettuce will always make the burger and bun go in opposite directions if you try to hold the sandwich. Eating it is both a joy and frustration. I would not eat it in front of company, and am even embarrassed when the waitress comes to check on us.
Speaking about the ‘Fluidum’ sign that outlived its restaurant, this concept is not uncommon in Prague.
There is no Albert Supermarket anywhere around.
Two days later, we read about ‘Shakespeare and sons bookstore and coffeeshop’ in Fodor’s. Since we loved the bookstore Shakespeare and Sons near our house which is just a bookstore and since we love Bookstore/Cafes, we decided to walk again all the way to Vinohrady to hang out there. After an hour and half and great climbs of hilly streets, we arrived to the bookstore to find it exists no more.
We had to console ourselves with the nearest delicious burger.
Third time burger. Vinohrady makes you fat!
Having learned our lesson from the above, we now research online to make sure a restaurant/cafe still exists. Fodor’s recommended a restaurant called ‘Meating Point’, they advised to look beyond the stupid Jerseyshore name for a great meal. Sometime last week, since we were hungry and close by, we decided to check it out. We arrived to find it one of those restaurants attached to hotels, on a big square (with outdoors seating). Everyone knows that these are tourist traps. The great view allows the restaurant to over charge and they have no reason to hire a good chef since the tourists won’t come back anyway. Against our better judgement, since Fodor’s recommended it, we decided to try it. You can imagine the result. Oh well, at least we confirmed our theory about restaurants on main squares (czech!).
I am a tourist/sucker who paid $5 for tiny bottle of coke and ate overpriced food but it was worth it. I got to sit in the main square!
Earlier, in our visit, we were looking for an Internet cafe for me to work. Both Fodor’s and Rick Steves recommended this great Internet Cafe called ‘Kava Kava Kava’. After a lengthy search, we found the address, but it is now ‘Cafe McQueen’ with no Wifi.
One highly recommended cafe is ‘Cafe Slavia’. It is hailed as an Institutional Cafe that existed forever and was visited by celebrity. We looked for it and found out that it is the same one we pass by everyday while walking by the river. The fact that it had a great view, and signs outside saying “Air Conditioning & Coca Cola”, made me refuse to go in at first. On our last week in Prague, curiosity got the best of me, since we pass by it everyday and it is always crowded. The result: I was initially right. The view was nice but that was all they have going for them.
Nice View
Two days later, we decided to console ourselves for all the above with a fourth burger!
Prague is not the first time this happens. We had similar experiences in Bruges and Rome with much less frequency. Obviously, it was not enough to deter us.
I rarely write reviews, but this time I decided to pay it back to the community. I reviewed all the closed restaurants/cafes on Fodor’s (Great restaurant, does not exist though). I am hoping the quality of my reviews will attract Fodor’s management attention to sponsor our travels in return for updating their guidebook!
Journal for Noha and Peter 
I cannot help myself from cracking up after I read your post. PJ is a good sport for still smiling 🙂
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